


Pretending

by LadyofShalott



Category: Leverage
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-15
Updated: 2012-08-15
Packaged: 2017-11-12 04:24:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/486651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyofShalott/pseuds/LadyofShalott
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He'll do whatever it takes to protect him</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pretending

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously, these characters belong to the Leverage creators. I'm just borrowing them. No copyright infringement is intended.

It's complicated, and Eliot won't talk about it, because trying to explain it gives him a headache. He's known Quinn for a long time -- longer than even Nate suspects, and damn it, Nate's suspicious of everything. This thing between them started out as mutual respect, then blossomed into a friendship, then grew into...something else, but neither of them wants to shove it into a box and give it a name.

They've beaten the hell out of each other more times than either can count in the name of capitalism and free enterprise, but business is all it is, and more often than not they end up in the same house or hotel room nursing each other's wounds and catching up. Eliot refuses to share that information with anybody. He knows every inch of that long, lean body intimately. They've shared laughter and tears and secrets neither of them dares tell anyone else. Quinn knows Eliot loves him, and Quinn's the only person who needs to know. Eliot supposes the same holds true on Quinn's end of things. 

Sometimes it kills Eliot a little inside, the pretending not to care when they're anywhere other than alone in the same room. Again, he supposes the same holds true for Quinn. It's a necessary evil, though, because they both have too many enemies -- chief among them is Damien Moreau -- who know that the easiest way to hurt someone beyond repair is to hurt the person they love most. Eliot's fine with risking his own life, but he refuses to do anything that will put Quinn in danger, so he plays a role.

"You okay, Eliot?" Nate asks as he comes to sit beside Eliot. Three hours earlier, they hauled Quinn out of a blazing warehouse after his employers turned on him. Eliot would rather be in his hospital room, but the wrong people might be watching, so he's sitting on Nate's couch trying not to lose his mind.

"What? Yeah. I'm good. " 

"I sent Sophie to check on him," Nate tells him, slipping an arm around him for a hug that Eliot appreciates but will never admit. "He's going to be fine."

Eliot starts to protest that he doesn't give a damn what happens to Quinn, but he's starting to realize that Nate can see through him. He sighs softly and rubs his eyes. "Thanks, Nate."


End file.
